Tag: Brady materials
Brady Rights Require Attention, but This Bill Is Flawed
While the prosecution of former Senator Ted Stevens is long over, the fallout from the prosecutorial misconduct in that case continues. Congress is now considering legislation that attempts to ensure that federal prosecutors comply in a meaningful way with their obligations under Brady v. Maryland and its progeny. The legislation has some provisions that could… Read More
Justice Would Be Served by an ‘Open File’ Policy for Prosecutors
A couple of years ago, the U.S. Department of Justice made an effort to systematize and improve its discovery obligations under Brady v. Maryland, the 1963 Supreme Court case that requires prosecutors to disclose information in their files that would tend to exculpate criminal defendants. A U.S. attorney, speaking at a conference of defense lawyers,… Read More
Judge Dismisses Lindsey FCPA Case, Finding Prosecutorial Misconduct
In May 2011, a federal jury in Los Angeles convicted Lindsey Manufacturing Co., its president Keith Lindsey, and CFO Steve Lee, on foreign bribery charges for their dealings with Mexico’s state-owned electricity utility, Comision Federal de Electricidad. The prosecutors claimed that Lindsey Manufacturing retained Enrique Aguilar, a Mexican company representative, after repeatedly failing to win… Read More
Prosecutors’ Misconduct Is More Than Just ‘Honest Mistakes’
A federal judge in the District of Columbia recently ruled that the U.S. Department of Justice will be allowed to retry star pitcher Roger Clemens on perjury charges after a mistrial was declared earlier this summer when the prosecution made reference to inadmissible evidence in open court. The government claimed that its violation of court… Read More
DOJ Dismisses Genocide Charges After Failure to Make Disclosure to Defense
We have written previously about the number of times in which federal prosecutors seem to withhold crucial evidence from defendants — evidence that they are required under law to turn over. Here, for example, is a discussion of an important Foreign Corrupt Practices Act case in which this occurred. A genocide case in Kansas poses a… Read More
Disqualification of AUSA in Scruggs Case Is Message to Prosecutors
The botched prosecution of Senator Ted Stevens was a wake-up call of sorts for the U.S. Department of Justice that there would be severe consequences for prosecutors who did not comply with obligations under Brady and related cases. The Department took another hit recently when a federal judge removed an Assistant United States Attorney from… Read More
Ifrah Law’s Blog Wrap-Up, March 9-23
This is the fourth of a regular series of posts that summarize and wrap up our latest thoughts that have appeared recently on Ifrah Law’s blogs. 1. Proposed Gaming Bill Could Make Nevada First to Legalize Online Poker Nevada, long an innovator in the gambling arena, may soon take another major step by becoming the first… Read More
Brady Violation Leads to Reversal of Conviction in D.C.
Editor’s note: This is a guest blog post by David Deitch, a Washington, D.C.-based litigator and the author of the White Collar Criminal Defense Blog. He can be reached at dbdeitch@nulldeitchlawdc.com. According to the D.C. Court of Appeals, when it comes to Brady disclosures, late is not necessarily better than never. In Miller v. United States,… Read More
Time to Make Brady Compliance Part of Prosecutors’ Culture
On Thursday, November 4, 2010, Rod Rosenstein, the U.S. Attorney for Maryland, defended the U.S. Department of Justice’s recent efforts to address its compliance with Brady v. Maryland, the 1963 Supreme Court case requiring prosecutors to disclose information that would tend to exculpate criminal defendants. Rosenstein, speaking before a group of defense attorneys at an… Read More
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